Team 7 (Kakashi)
, |affiliations=Konohagakure |leaders=Kakashi Hatake, Yamato~occasionally |manga debut=3 |anime debut=3 |shippuden=No |game debut=Naruto: Clash of Ninja |movie debut=Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow |ova debut=Find the Four-Leaf Red Clover! |media=Anime, Manga, Game, Movie }} Team Kakashi, also known as Team 7, is a team led by Kakashi Hatake and was formed after the members became genin. The members were selected in order to balance out their talents. Naruto, the worst student in his graduating class, would benefit from Sakura's intelligence and Sasuke's proficiency with ninja skills. Sakura would similarly benefit from her more battle-capable team-mates, whereas Sasuke would benefit from being forced to work with others. It was later revealed that Kakashi was chosen specifically to be the leader of Team 7 because of Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi's duty, in addition to training the team, was also to keep the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in Naruto contained, and to keep Sasuke from walking down a dark path, since they had similar traits that would allow Kakashi to better understand him. When Sasuke defected from Konoha at the end of Part I, Team 7 was disbanded for the next two and a half years. The remaining members reformed as Team Kakashi at the start of Part II in order to go and rescue Gaara. After that mission was completed, Sai was added to the team as Sasuke's replacement under Danzō Shimura's suggestion, and Yamato briefly led the team when Kakashi was hospitalised. Although intended to be a temporary replacement, all of Team Kakashi's subsequent missions have been led by Yamato. According to Sakura, Team Kakashi also has the best teamwork with Team 10. The Yamato-led Team Kakashi, otherwise known as "Team Yamato", was later part of the Eight Man Squad led by a recovered Kakashi. For the first half of Part II, the remaining members of Team 7 tried their best to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. They first track him to one of Orochimaru's bases, but he escapes. Later, with the help of Team 8, they try to intercept him in his search for Itachi, but they lose his trail. After this failure, Sasuke affiliates himself with Akatsuki and becomes an international criminal. With the level of his crimes getting worse than ever, Konoha decides to break ties with Sasuke, while Sakura and Kakashi separately attempt to kill him to prevent him from implicating the village in any of his future crimes. When Sasuke does not hesitate to try and kill them both during the first reunion of the original Team 7 since his defection as well as declaring his goal of destroying Konoha, Naruto also concludes that Sasuke must be stopped. However, he insists that only he can fight Sasuke. Missions ;Find the Lost Pet Tora * Rank: D-rank * Status: Success Team 7 was assigned to find Tora, a lost cat owned by the Fire Daimyō's wife, Madam Shijimi. ;Escort the Bridge Builder * Rank: C-rank (technically A-rank) * Status: Success Per Naruto's request for a more challenging mission, Team 7 was assigned to escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves. Along the way, they discovered that Tazuna had assassins after him and needed protection while he finished building a bridge. Tazuna did not have enough money to pay for bodyguarding services, and so lied to Team 7 that he only needed escorts. Despite the difficulty of this assignment Team 7 stayed by Tazuna's side until the bridge was completed, successfully protecting him from Gatō and his men. ;Find Genmai (OVA only) * Rank: D-rank (turned B-rank) * Status: Success In the anime OVA special, Team 7 had to search for a man from the Inaho Village, Genmai who was kidnapped by a group of missing-nin and their leader, Kajika. Kakashi gets trapped in a spell technique with Genmai after finding him and Kajika and his group kidnap Sakura after a little scuffle with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke defeat Kajika and his team-mates and Team 7 return Genmai to his son. ;Miscellaneous D-Rank Missions * Rank: D-rank When Team 7 returned from the Land of Waves, they were given a number of uneventful assignments. These included pulling weeds, picking up litter, and walking dogs. Kakashi noted that their teamwork has deteriorated during these missions. ;Stop Gaara/Find Sasuke * Rank: A-rank * Status: Success During the Invasion of Konoha in Part I, Kakashi assigned Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Pakkun to find Sasuke and Gaara. This stated to be the first A rank mission since the Land of Waves. ;Complete Paw Encyclopaedia (Anime only) * Rank: D-rank * Status: Success In the anime, Team 7 was assigned by Nekobaa to obtain Nekomata's paw print. This mission was meant for Sasuke Uchiha when Itachi Uchiha assigned Sasuke a small game to get all the ninja cat paw prints. However it was revealed that Itachi wanted Nekomata to test Sasuke when he's older if he's strong enough. ;Protect the Runner (Anime only) * Rank: B-rank (possibly A-rank as Tsunade stated) * Status: Success In the anime, Team 7 was hired to protect Idate Morino during his race. ;Rescue the Kazekage * Rank: A-rank (S-rank in the anime) * Status: Success At the start of Part II, Team Kakashi was sent to help Sunagakure rescue Gaara from Akatsuki. Sasori, one of the Akatsuki members, was killed during the course of the mission, and Gaara was saved. ;Infiltrate Orochimaru's Hideout * Rank: A-rank * Status: Failure Using information gained from Sasori, the new Team Kakashi (led by Yamato) went to Kusagakure to meet with a spy in Orochimaru's ranks. Although hoping it would give them an opportunity to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Sasuke eluded capture. ;Protect the Twelve Guardian Ninja Tombs (Anime only) * Rank: B-rank * Status: Failure In the anime, Team Kakashi and temporary member Sora were assigned to find and stop thieves robbing the tombs of former Twelve Guardian Ninja. They were unable to stop the grave robbers or reacquire the stolen bodies in time. ;Back-up Team 10 * Rank: Unknown * Status: Success Following Naruto's completion of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Team Kakashi was sent to help Team 10 fight Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu. Their combined efforts were enough to kill the latter. ;Hunt for Itachi and Sasuke * Rank: Unknown * Status: Failure As part of an Eight Man Squad, Team Kakashi started a mission to capture the missing-nin Itachi Uchiha. It called for the squad to split up and search the area for any sign of Itachi. However, upon seeing Deidara's suicide explosion, the team regrouped, with Kiba finding Sasuke's scent. With Sasuke so close, the squad's primary mission of finding Itachi was replaced with finding Sasuke instead. While being stalled by Akatsuki member Tobi, the team learned that Itachi had died in battle with Sasuke. They tried to reach Sasuke before Tobi could, but failed and were unable to rediscover Sasuke's trail. ;Protect the Tsuchigumo clan Kinjutsu (Anime only) * Rank: Unknown * Status: Success In the anime, Team Kakashi is sent on a mission to assist the near-extinct Tsuchigumo clan protect its destructive and forbidden technique from bandits as per a peace agreement made between the clan and the Third Hokage. Trivia * Due to Sasuke's defection, all four original members of Team Kakashi have not been seen together for 308 chapters, from chapter 176 to chapter 484. Episode-wise, it is for 326 episodes, from episode 108 to Shippūden episode 214.